


Birch Wood Hospital

by pepsicoughdrops



Category: Original Work
Genre: Body Horror, Gore, Other, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24782518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pepsicoughdrops/pseuds/pepsicoughdrops
Summary: again this is another story that's a year old, just wanted somewhere to put itall characters belong to me once again also
Kudos: 2





	Birch Wood Hospital

"Listen to me right now, Eli, I don't want you goin out in them woods. Too many people been missing cause of them woods, specially stay away from that ol hospital," that's what his mother had said to him the night he was caught sneaking in late.

Her thick, southern accent laced with worry for her son, the moonlight streaming in through the living room window illuminated her aged face. Those words stuck to the back of young Elijah Kennedy's mind like glue, he never wanted to upset his mother, even if it did mean missing out on exploring with his friends.

"Mama!," Eli called into the quiet house, "I'm goin out but I'll be back for supper!," without a second thought he made his way out of the front screen door, letting it slam behind him.

It was late summer time, the creek frogs' song getting louder as Eli stepped out in the open. The warm, Kentucky sun glowed a dull, coppery orange from where it sat low in the sky. Eli made sure to steer clear of the old hornet's nest that occupied the over hang on his family's porch, ducking under it before jogging down the long dirt driveway.

The trees that surrounded Eli's house shot temptation up his spine, wanting nothing more than to just go exploring in the old forest. He soon came to a stop near a small, one person trail that branched off from his driveway and into the trees.

Eli's eyes scanned the area down the trail, a few birds flying by or a squirrel running past every now and again. The leaves above him sway and shook with the cool summer wind, almost like whispers calling him into the forest.

Turning his head back to the direction of his house, Eli double checked to make sure his mother or father wasn't walking down to find him. Once he found the coast was clear, he started to walk down the small trail, hands stuffed in his jean pockets.

The forest was lively, birds flew overhead, frogs croaked, and crickets chirped within the grass. A few miles down the trail Eli saw an old sign pitched in the dirt, vines and flowers growing all over it. He knew the sign, the old hospital wasn't far, he knew he would be in serious trouble if he explored that deep into the forest.

Eli stepped closer towards the sign, the dirt trail widening as the sign drew near. The young boy reached up and tugged at the vines, pulling them off the reveal old, chipped paint and writing.

"RIVER BIRCH HOSPITAL"

Eli had been near the old building plenty of times when he would hang out with his friends. They would all stand outside the entrance, daring each other to go inside. His grandma always had told him stories about how it was haunted, about how cults now used it as a gathering place for bad things.

The hospital had closed when Eli's grandma was a little girl. The reports said it was because of inhumane treatment of patients, at least from what his grandma remembered. Eli took one last glance behind him, weighing his options on this, and then started walking to the abandoned building.

Eli picked up his pace once he saw the old building, coming to quick stop at the entrance. More vines and overgrowth had accumulated since his last visit, twisting and curling around the bricks like locks of thick hair. Eli looked up at the sky, still blue, a little orange from the setting sun. He had time before supper, before his parents got worried.

The dirt and rock crunched under his sneakers as he stepped inside, the smell of old leather and rotting meat filling his nose in an instant. Wild animals had been known to wonder inside the building, lots of dead ones had been found inside before.

Eli never liked seeing dead animals, never liked when his father would suggest they take a hunting trip, every time he would opt out and stay home with mama. Cool, summer air blew through the open halls of the building, scattering leaves and dust as Eli walked further inside.

He made sure to press hard against the dirt floor, making an indent with each step to make a trail so he wouldn't get lost. Every so often a bird could be heard singing somewhere in the rafters, the noise echoing off the old walls. Before long Eli came across a huge, open room near the center of the hospital. Old hospital beds, some up turned or torn apart, lined up and down the old room.

Eli took a couple steps inside the room, the smell of old leather and rotting meat getting stronger with every step. The young boy scrunched up his nose before he felt a hand clasp his shoulder, a scream escaping him and echoing off the walls.

The feeling sent a jolt through Eli's body, almost falling over as he jerked away and spun around to face the mystery person, heart nearly jumping out of his chest.

In front of Eli stood a girl, she looked maybe a year or two older than him, her matted, frizzy hair falling over her shoulders and framing her sun kissed face. She wore an old, ratty tank top accompanied by cut off jean shorts, freckles dotted up and down her arms and all over her face.

"Hey hey calm down big guy," she said, her southern accent much thicker than his mother's, "what are you doin out here?"

"What are YOU doin here?"

The girl crossed her arms over her chest, "no need to get all defensive, I'm out here with my family explorin a little ways away from our campsite," she explained, "now tell me why you're out here."

"Took a detour down a walkin path, just wanted out the house."

"See, ain't that hard to tell the truth," the girl grinned, Eli noticed she was missing one of top front teeth. "So what's your name kid?," she asked, starting to rock back and forth on her heels.

"Elijah Kennedy," Eli answered, "my mama just calls me Eli, unless I get in trouble then it's usually Elijah."

"Funny name," she said, "mine's Magnolia but my daddy calls me Maggie."

All of a sudden the pair heard what sounded like a whistle, the shrill sound coming from somewhere in the old building.

Maggie stopped rocking on her heels in an instant, her whole body jerking around to the entrance of the large room. Suddenly the young girl started to run away from Eli, not even bothering to turn around and say goodbye.

"Hey!," Eli called out "hey wait up!," he started to try and catch up to Maggie, his sneakers beating against the dirt floor. Maggie seemed to turn on a dime as she ran around a sharp corner, the whistle echoed through the building three more times.

Eli continued to chase after the girl, his body coming to a hard stop once he caught sight of her again. Maggie stood a few feet outside of one of the hospital exists, in front of her stood a group of people.

In this group was a man, a little older than Eli's father, he wore an old, dirty t-shirt, ripped up, baggy jeans, and a pair of brown work boots. Beside him stood a woman, she looked younger than Eli's mama, she wore a long, dingy, yellow sundress and no shoes, her hair looked almost exactly like Maggie's. The last person in the group was a young boy, maybe around the age of nine to ten, he wore a faded John Deere t-shirt and a pair of dirty khaki shorts.

"Maggie," The woman said, "who's that?" Eli froze when the woman pointed at him and when Maggie looked back at him.

"No one mama," Maggie answered, her eyes still locked on Eli, "just someone I ran into while explorin."

The woman walked past Maggie and stood about a foot away from Eli, leaning down to his eye level, "What's your name sweetheart?," she asked, "why are ya out in the middle of the woods?"

"I…I ain't supposed to talk to strangers," Eli stumbled over his words, "my mama told me not to."

The woman smiled, standing back up and smoothing out her sundress, "Your mama seems like a very smart lady," Eli stayed silent.

"Maggie c'mon honey," Maggie's mama said while walking past the young girl, "let's get goin now." Maggie nodded to her mama before walking over to Eli, taking one of his hands in her's, placing a curled up rolly polly in his palm

"Meet me back here tomorrow, same place," Maggie said before turning and running off to meet her family.

Eli stood in silence, looking down at the curled up rolly polly in his hand. He looked up at the sky to see it had gotten darker, time had passed quicker than he thought. Stuffing the rolly polly in his pocket, he turned away from the woods and started to run back home, following the footprints he left when he walked in the old building.

Rain sprinkled down from the sky as Eli made his way through the forest, an old baseball cap covering his face from the weather. Eli saw the old hospital sign in the distance, two people stood by it under an umbrella.

Once he got closer to the sign he recognized the pair as Maggie and the younger boy from yesterday, both still in the same clothes as their last meeting.

"You actually came," Maggie said, her hair was a lot frizzier with the rain's humidity circulating the outside.

Eli nodded and motioned to the younger boy, "who's he? brother?," he asked.

Maggie placed a hand on the younger boy's head, ruffling his matted, brown hair "Yep," she responded "wouldn't stop buggin me until I brought him along."

"He got a name?," Eli asked

"Jeep," The younger boy, Jeep, said, "my name is Jeep."

Maggie nodded to Eli, "he don't talk much but he's a sweet kid, I think you and him'll get along just fine."

"So why'd you want me to come back?," Eli asked as the trio started making their way to River Birch Hospital, the only sounds heard being the rain and frogs croaking softly.

"Said I wanted to show you somethin," Maggie explained once they reached the entrance, "trust you enough for this."

Walking in the old building, birds flew around the rafters, their songs and alarm calls echoing all around. Maggie and Jeep led Eli through the maze of hallways, taking sudden, sharp turns every now and again until they came to an open room.

In the center of the room was an old, metal surgery table, rust covering almost every part of it. Eli felt bile rise in his throat when he noticed off to one of the side walls were three deer corpses strung up by their back hooves, three buckets placed under each as blood dripped from their open stomachs.

"Why…why is that here?" Eli choked out, he hated dead things, animals especially.

"Daddy caught em and didn't have nowhere to string em," Maggie explained calmly, clearly not bothered by the sight. Eli jerked his eyes away from the awful sight, trying to focus on the other things in the room. In one corner were two black garbage bags stacked on top of each other.

Eli swallowed a lump in his throat, "those bags," he started, "what's in em?"

"Don't know," Jeep said quietly, "Daddy said we ain't allowed to touch em but that we can help with em later, somethin important." Eli stared at the younger boy, small panic alarms started to go off in his head, all of them telling him to run home and never come back.

"Did you two bring me out here just to show me dead deers?," Eli asked, "cause it ain't funny if you did."

Maggie rolled her eyes, "lighten up kid I didn't know you'd freak out over a couple of animals," the young girl started walking across the room to another doorway, "c'mon let's keep goin."

Jeep grabbed Eli's wrist and pulled him along to follow Maggie. Once inside the other room Maggie sat down her umbrella, crouching down on the floor and waving the two boys over.

"Look," Maggie whispered once the boys crouched next to her, "this is what I wanted you to see." Eli narrowed his eyes, the room was dark, it didn't have any windows so he guessed it must've been a storage room. Tucked away in the old room, Eli could faintly make out the silhouette of a small animal.

Eli sucked in a breath when he realized what the shape was, a baby deer was curled up on the ground, chest moving up and down as it breathed slowly.

"See ain't it neat," Maggie whispered again, looking over at Eli and Jeep.

"Yeah," Eli said, his voice laced with excitement and disbelief, "yeah it's real neat."

Maggie looked over her shoulder, quietly standing up before turning to face the doorway, "I gotta go get somethin," she whispered to the boys, "I'll be right back."

Eli nodded, eyes still locked on the baby deer, listening as Maggie's footsteps padded against the hospital's floor.

"You shoulda stayed home," Jeep spoke up after a minute or two of silence, "didn't wanna help with this" he sounded choked up, like he was about to cry.

"What do yo-" a flash of white, hot pain shot through the back of Eli's head as stars seemed to explode behind his eyes, everything soon going pitch and heavy as he collapsed on the cold floor.

Jeep looked up at his older sister, seeing the old, rusty pipe clenched in her hands.

"Get em up," Maggie said, "get em up while I go get daddy and mama."

Jeep watched as his sister dropped the pipe, turned heel, and started walking away from him and Eli.

The younger boy wiped a few stray tears from his eyes before standing up off the floor, grabbing one of Eli's arms and dragging him back over to the old surgery table.

Eli awoke to the sound of clattering, his vision blurry and head pounding. He tried to move his arms and found that he couldn't, the feeling of rough leather digging into his skin.

The smell of rotting meat hit his nose, bile rising in the back of his throat in an instant. He tried to speak but again found he couldn't even do that, his tongue pushing against balled up fabric that was stuffed in his mouth.

The feeling of a hand on his cheek caused him to look up, his eyes could barely make out the shape of a person, their thin hand stroking his dirt covered cheek.

"Shhh just need ya to stay calm baby doll," Eli heard a muffled voice say, it sounded like a woman or at least from what his brain could register. He hadn't even realized he had started crying, the hand using it's thumb to wipe away the hot tears off his cheeks.

Eli suddenly felt a sharp pain on his stomach, his whole body jerking in the leather restraints, a muffled scream escaping from underneath the balled up fabric. Two thin hands were now placed on either of his cheeks, holding his head in place so he couldn't look down.

His fight or flight was being sent into overdrive, the pain on his stomach spreading as the sound of flesh and muscle tearing filled his ears. Hot tears poured from the young boy's eyes, voice getting scratchy and hoarse from every muffled scream coming from his mouth.

The pain that spread down his legs seemed to stop when a sickening crack filled his ears, everything from his stomach down going numb and unresponsive. Eli felt sick, vomit threatening to spill out of his mouth.

He felt warm liquid on his skin, a coppery smell filling the air. The smell reminded him of the old penny jar his grandma kept back at home, the way the coppery smell would hit you as soon as it was opened. Everything from his stomach up hurt, black dots started to speckle his vision, the room seemingly spinning around him.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jeep and Maggie, both of them standing next to each other. Jeep looked scared, stray tears rolled down his cheeks as he watched the horrors unfold in front of him. Maggie, she didn't look like anything, her face was expressionless. No emotion whatsoever, just a blank stare as she watched Eli.

As soon as he had felt the pain, everything seemed to go numb, his vision soon going pitch as well. The muffled sounds of something being dragged across the floor filled his ears, the last thing he heard before going completely unconscious.

"Twenty years ago today horror was shocked through our little town," the woman on the news channel said, "The severed bottom half of seventeen year old Elijah Kennedy was found discarded in a burn pile by the old River Birch Hospital."

"Jeep McCarthy!," A woman's voice called from the kitchen, "You better not be lettin our daughter watch that mess, she's too young to be hearin bout all that!"

A man in his early thirties sat on a couch, illuminated by the soft glow of the tv. He looked over at his daughter, her small body curled up against his side, she had fallen asleep as soon as the news was turned on.

"She…she ain't awake," Jeep called back to his wife, watching as his daughter's chest moved up and down with every small breath from her body. His eyes went back to the tv, a picture of a young boy was shown on screen.

He had messy, light blonde hair, his eyes were closed as he smiled in the picture. Jeep felt nauseous just looking at the picture on the television, vomit rising in the back of his throat.

Jeep soon scooped up his daughter, not being able to handle the news anymore, and started walking up to her bedroom. The nausea in his stomach died down once he reached his daughter's room, laying her down on her bed and placing the covers over her small body.

Guilt still crept up the older man's spine, it was cold and unforgiving even after twenty years. Even after managing to escape his family's grasp on him, he could still tell you about that night word for word, getting down to every little detail.

His sister, Magnolia McCarthy, was the one to rat him out on his escape plan. Jeep loved his sister, they had grown up together and did everything since Jeep could walk, but he couldn't look her in the eyes after those moments of pure terror.

Shaking off the guilt the best he could, for the time being, Jeep took one last look at his sleeping daughter before flicking on a night light and walking out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

Jeep soon made his way to his own bedroom, wanting to see if he could sleep off the guilt. His senses felt like liquid, like when you get water in your ears and you can't get it out. Tears seemed to prick at the older man's eyes, a few rolling down his cheeks and falling to the floor.

Collapsing on the bed, Jeep looked up at the ceiling, not bothering to change into pajamas. His body felt like pins and needles, his mind running the scene of that night over and over. Jeep turned on his side, shutting his eyes and attempting to sleep, the sound of frog croaks from outside lulling him to the sweet embrace of rest.

"Jeep," came a muffled voice, "Jeep get up," a nudge on his shoulder.

"Jeep!," the older man shot up, looking around to see his wife leaned over his body, her face looked scared in the dim moonlight that shone through the window.

"Amanda?," Jeep slurred, voice thick with sleep, "what's wrong? what happened?"

"I can't find Janice, she's…she's not in her bed and the front door's open," Amanda's voice was laced with panic, her hands shaking from fear.

Jeep's senses seemed to go into overdrive as he got out of bed, quickly making his way down to the living room, eyes locking on the front door and how it was wide open.

"Stay put," Jeep said to Amanda before wandering off to the kitchen, coming back a few minutes later with an old flashlight.

"Where are you going!," Amanda called out to her husband, watching as he started walking to the back door of the house, "you can't just go wonderin around we don't know where she is!"

Jeep didn't answer as he walked out the back door, letting it slam behind him as he turned on the old flashlight. The dingy, yellow glow illuminated ahead of him and lit up the large backyard. A few yards away was a forest, that same forest, a forest he hadn't been in since he was seventeen.

Taking a deep breath, Jeep made his way to the edge of the forest, letting the flashlight illuminate the inside past the large trees. Frogs croaked in the distance, crickets chirping in the grass.

Trees seemed to bend and twist in the darkness of the forest, looking too tall or too human like for their own good. It only took about 30 minutes to find the old path, a sign planted firmly in the ground right ahead.

"RIVER BIRCH HOSPITAL"

Of course the sign was more rotten than the last time Jeep had seen it, vines twisting and curling all around it. A few wildflowers grew around the base, their bright colors popping as soon as the flashlight would shine on them.

Jeep eventually pointed his flashlight ahead, continuing his walk to the old hospital.

The walk seemed to take much longer than he remembered, frog croaks getting softer the closer he got to the building. Soon enough the flashlight caught glimpse of the front entrance, the double doors having long been gone and decayed.

Fear started to curl inside Jeep's stomach, after all it had been exactly twenty years on the dot. He knew that it would come back to bite him eventually, he just hoped it would've happened earlier, maybe even later after Janice had grown up.

Gravel and dead leaves crunched underneath Jeep's boots as he stepped inside the hospital, a dense feeling of anxiety hung in the air and seemed to swim around each room. The whole place seemed to be exactly like how his family had left it, just a lot more caked in dust and dirt.

Walking further into the hospital Jeep was hit with the smell of rotting meat, a smell he knew all too well. It wasn't fresh, but it wasn't exactly old either. The source of the smell was eventually found when Jeep turned the corner to an old set of stairs.

Hanging down from the bar rails was the mangled corpse of a raccoon, it's intestines strung out like Christmas lights and body ripped to shreds. Chunks of flesh were scattered around on the worn in staircase, along with bits of bones and fur.

Covering his mouth and nose with his arm, Jeep stepped back and quickly turned another corner, the smell still hanging thick in the air around him. Jeep soon enough found the most familiar looking room he had ever seen in his life, a room he would most likely never forget.

The room was open and spacious, the only thing in it being an old surgical table in the middle of it.

The weight of the whole situation seemed to catch up to Jeep as soon as he stepped over the threshold into the room, it felt like a punch to the gut just looking at the table. Like an old movie player stuck on repeat, the memory started to play over and over again.

Shining his flashlight around the area, albeit very carefully, the light soon caught sight of the same room him and Maggie had seen the baby deer.

The same room him and Maggie used to trick Elijah Kennedy into being apart of some fucked up cultist hullabaloo.

"Daddy? Is that you?"

The same room Janice was in.

"Janice!," Jeep dropped his flashlight, letting it roll away as he quickly dashed over to the room. Eyes soon adjusting to the sudden change of darkness. Sitting tucked away in a corner was Janice, knees scraped and cheeks smudged with dirt.

"Janice oh thank God you're alright June bug!," Janice was scooped up without a second thought and held close to her father's chest, "Your mama and I were so scared someone took you!"

"But someone did!," Janice exclaimed in a whisper while hooking her chin on Jeep's shoulder, tiny hands clasping at the back of his shirt.

Time seemed to stand still as those words left Janice's mouth, a chill shot down Jeep's spine while every part of his brain came to a stop. Had he…Had that thing got into his house?

"Janice, sweetheart, who…who took you?," Jeep barely even heard his own voice, barely even felt his mouth move as the question was asked to his daughter.

However he did feel when Janice moved her head off his shoulder to look upwards at the dark ceiling, the hair's on the back of his neck stood up as another chill shot down his spine. His whole body seemed to be frozen, neck not wanting to move so he could look up.

A soft clicking noise soon filled the small room, not like when you click your tongue, it sounded like something from the back of your throat. Almost like a frog croaking but in a higher pitch.

Slowly craning his neck upwards to see what Janice's eyes had locked on to, Jeep saw what he could only describe as all twenty years of that guilt personified.

Above the pair on the few rafters that hung in the small room was a figure, it's body twisted and malformed. Moonlight flashed in from a hole in the ceiling and shone on the creature, it's body was long, laying across at least 5 rafters or more.

Dirt and blood seemed to cake the long, tattered hospital gown it wore. It's bones creaked and popped as it started to move across and down from the rafters.

Jeep, still frozen in place and holding onto Janice for dear life, watched in horror as this thing crawled from the rafters and onto the floor. Watched as it turned to face them and the way it's whited out eyes glistened in the dark room. Watched as it crawled over to them and stood, it's height easily besting Jeep to the point he felt his knees almost give out.

The thing leaned down, one of it's hands gingerly reaching up to Janice's height.

Before Janice could even graze the thing's hand with her own, Jeep had jerked away and stumbled backwards out of the room, heart beating inside his throat and panic spreading throughout his entire body.

"You're dead!," Jeep yelled as the thing crawled out of the room, it looked confused and almost hurt, like a wounded animal on the brink of death.

"You-You're dead! I saw you die!," He yelled again, pulling Janice closer to his chest, "It didn't work we threw you in that pit we-we buried you!"

Jeep stumbled back again as the thing crawled closer, this time falling on his backside and landing in the dirt, grip still tight on Janice.

The thing seemed to get a burst of speed as it crawled over to the pair, suddenly face to face with Jeep, it's nails digging into his jean clad knees. A few scars littered it's body, at least the visible parts of it anyway.

Jeep hadn't even realized he had started to cry until he heard himself sniffle.

Jeep watched as the thing gently placed a hand on Janice's head, petting at her hair as if she would break with the tiniest bit of pressure. Trying to move, Jeep winced as the hands on his knees gripped tighter to keep him in place.

"I'm sorry," Jeep finally managed to speak, voice cracking and slurred, "I'm so so sorry, God I am sorry."

The thing stopped petting at Janice's hair to look back at Jeep, once again it looked confused. Something clicked in Jeep's mind as the thing looked over his face.

It didn't remember, He didn't remember.

More tears started to pour from Jeep's eyes as the realization hit him. This only caused the creature to let out a startled chorus of chirps and clicks, hands patting at Jeep's shoulders and arms in an attempt to get out what was wrong.

"You didn't deserve this," Jeep choked out, "You didn't deserve to rot in this building for 20 years, God you were just a kid."

The creature kept patting at Jeep's shoulders and arms, clicking softening but still prominent.

"I never should've agreed to help, I knew it was a bad idea but I didn't want to be in trouble with them," Jeep felt his head start to hurt from all the crying, "Eli I'm so sorry and I know you don't remember a thing and maybe it's better that way but I am so sorry."


End file.
